Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Dodgers decided to do their rookie hazing after the game, and it wasn't limited to the rookies since the second-year players never got to dress up in funky costumes last year. The youngsters who helped win today's games were not spared nor was an aging closer. Here's a rundown of the various get-ups:

I'm sure a few of you are wondering what Luis Gonzalez's main contribution was today and while he went 0-for-4 on the field in a tough game for him, he was the driving force behind the postgame festivities. As has been a ritual in Major League clubhouse for many years, at the end of the season the rookies often are required to dress up in some sort of outfit that is intended to embarrass them and bring a little humility to them. A couple years ago, we had all of our first-year players in Hooters outfits as we left San Francisco, which was a sight to see.

Last year, no one wound up taking the reins and making this happen so this season, Gonzo decided that it would be good team bonding if all of those guys had to get the "rookie treatment" for the day.

So, he organized the whole thing and there were about a dozen players on the plane with us who looked absolutely ridiculous in their costumes. Yet, the postgame shenanigans absolutely generated clubhouse chemistry and camaraderie like nothing we've seen this year. Every player, young and old, was laughing hysterically at these outfits. Among them:

Chad Billingsley as Robin Hood
James Loney dressed as Popeye
Chin-lung Hu dressed as a sorcerer
Tony Abreu dressed as Pocahantas
Delwyn Young as Snow White
Andy LaRoche in full clown attire
Russell Martin as Nacho Libre
Jonathan Broxton as a monk
Andre Ethier and Eric Hull in strange Vegas showgirl type outfits
and the kicker of them all was Matt Kemp, who was in some sort of "fat suit" with a bikini.

Of course, for many years this ritual was kept hidden from the public but in today's My Space and You Tube age, I'm guessing that many of the photos are already circulating around the Internet, as the players were paraded around outside Wrigley Field in front of the fans and then dropped off a few blocks from our hotel in San Francisco and are now walking back here so that they could walk amongst the public. Many people commented that they won't stand out in San Francisco and having seen that city at Halloween, they might be right. But there's a lot to be said about a win like this and what it does for the team.